Former Penn State Chairman 1st Trustee To Resign After Sandusky Scandal

A member and former chairman of the Penn State board of trustees resigned on Thursday, becoming the first board member to do so in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal.

Steve Garban said in a letter his presence on the board had become "a distraction and an impediment" to its efforts to move forward.

Garban was harshly criticized over his handling of the crisis that engulfed Penn State after Sandusky's arrest last November, and he faced persistent calls from alumni and fellow board members to step down.

An internal investigation by former FBI Director Louis Freeh found that Garban was briefed twice about developments in the Sandusky case but didn't share what he knew with the entire board, depriving trustees of a chance to prepare for the worst crisis in Penn State's 157-year history.

Freeh's 267-page report portrayed a disengaged board that handed too much responsibility to the university president and failed to investigate deeply enough once it became aware of a grand jury probe.

After the report's release, trustees accepted responsibility for a failure of oversight and said they were "deeply ashamed." Board Chairwoman Karen Peetz, who announced Garban's resignation in a letter on the board's website, said at the time that no trustee would step down, however.

While Garban is the first trustee to resign in the wake of the Sandusky scandal, he's not the first board casualty. Incumbent trustee Anne Riley lost re-election last spring as alumni upset over the board's handling of the crisis picked three new trustees - all of whom campaigned on a reform platform - to sit on the 32-member panel.

A 1959 Penn State graduate, Garban worked at the university for 33 years, the last 12 as treasurer and senior vice president of finance and operations. Alumni first elected him to the board of trustees in 1998, and he began his fifth three-year term in 2010.

Some trustees felt he was too close to ousted university president Graham Spanier, according to the Freeh report.

"Some trustees thought Garban's history of being previously employed at Penn State, where as (senior vice president) he reported directly to Spanier, hampered his ability to lead the board," the report said.

In April 2011, the report said, Spanier told Garban about a grand jury investigation of Sandusky. Garban, in turn, failed to alert fellow board members. Garban told investigators that Spanier downplayed the Sandusky probe, and he recalled his former boss saying, "It was the third or fourth grand jury and nothing would come of it," the report said.

Then, on Oct. 28, Garban learned from Penn State's chief lawyer that two university administrators were about to be charged with failing to report suspected child abuse. Garban told investigators he was "astounded" when he saw Sandusky in the Nittany Lion Club at Penn State's home game against Illinois on Oct. 29. Yet he informed only two other trustees - James Broadhurst and John Surma - that charges against Sandusky, Athletic Director Tim Curley and Vice President Gary Schultz were imminent.

Former general counsel Cynthia Baldwin told Freeh's investigators that she thought Garban, as "conduit to the board," would have alerted his colleagues about the Sandusky investigation. Garban told trustees he kept it from them because he was not sure that criminal charges would come to pass, according to the Freeh report.

Garban stepped down as board chairman three days after Sandusky's Nov. 5 arrest, handing the job to Surma, the vice chairman. One day later, the board ousted revered football coach Joe Paterno and Spanier.

Meeting in Scranton last week, trustees were privately furious that Garban, Broadhurst and Surma failed to warn them about the impending scandal, a trustee told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive board matters.

The trustee recalled that board member Ira Lubert suggested that some of his colleagues resign, telling them that "each trustee needs to look deep within himself and decide whether they did all they could, and whether it's in the best interest of the university to step down."

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